5. – The Boston Globe America’s Favorite Comfort Food“You can be sitting in a high chair or in a high-style Italian chair, and if someone sets a bowl of mac and cheese in front of you, you’re bound to be delighted. This humble bowl of mostly white ingredients is currently the most sought-after comfort food on American tables. It suits everyone: teens, vegetarians, lumberjacks, sophisticates.”

3. – The LA Times A Rare Four-Star Restaurant Reivew: The Bazaar by Jose Andres “Do a Google search for “Nutella,” the Italian hazelnut-chocolate spread that comes in a squat jar like peanut butter and is often found right next to it in grocery aisles, and you’ll get about 5 million results. Which is about twice what you get when you Google “chocolate chip cookies” — and several times as many as the phrase “Valentine’s Day chocolates.” You might want to remember that this weekend.”

2. – The NY Times Your Morning Pizza“Once I started looking around, in fact, I didn’t feel limited at all. It could be that my breakfast preferences stem from my mother, who served oatmeal and cream of wheat with nothing more than butter and salt — no brown sugar, no maple syrup. I thought this was the only way to go until I got out into the world a little and found out how unusual her approach was.”

1. – The Washington Post The Pleasure is in the Pain“Vincenzo Di Marzo, a research director at the Institute of Biomolecular Chemistry of the Italian National Research Council near Naples, Italy, said there are three main reasons we voluntarily eat capsaicin. The first is that it makes other tastes come alive. “Heat, and the sensation of heat, activates capsaicin-sensitive sensory neurons that enhance our perception of flavors,” he said.”